Women on average make about 80 cents for every dollar a man does. In Silicon Valley, the wealth gap is even wider, extending to the most potentially lucrative currency on the planet: stock options.
Women get half the amount of equity of their male colleagues at startups, giving them unequal access to the Silicon Valley's wealth generation machine, according to a first-of-its kind study by an investor group and an equity management firm that are urging the technology industry to take action.
For every dollar of equity for men, women hold 47 cents, according to the study of nearly 180,000 employees at more than 6,000 companies released this week by #Angels and Carta. Female founders have it even worse: They own 39 cents for every dollar of equity of a male founder.
The study covers a number of industries across the U.S., but its findings are most significant for the male-dominated tech industry, where employees commonly trade higher salaries for an equity stake in hopes of striking it rich. Those who hit the startup lottery frequently use their newfound influence and wealth to fund the next generation of startups or to step onto the national stage to sway policy or politics.
A February post on Medium from the group of six female investors behind investment collective #Angels identified the problem: Too few women – and even fewer women of color – showing up on the capitalization, or cap, tables of successful startups. The cap table records who owns shares in a company and determines who gets paid out when the company is bought or goes public.
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